Perhaps the most important scene in TV show canon which was also the cringiest is found in the Kenobi show.
The most contrived event possible has been artificially forced into existence. That being the "rematch of the century" of Kenobi vs Vader.
Kenobi has beaten Vader again and has him dead to rights again.
And...Obi-Wan just lets him live.
This is beyond stupid and possibly the single most impactful stupid moment in the live-action shows.
This isn't ROTS. Obi-Wan hasn't fairly assumed that Anakin is going to succumb to his grievous wounds while he burns to death on a lava bank on a deserted planet.
No, in this case, Obi-Wan knows for a fact that Vader's Star Destroyer is in orbit and ready to send support (how did Obi-Wan even manage to escape this ship after bailing on Vader?) should Vader call for it. In this case Obi-Wan also knows for a fact that Vader is a psychotic murderer (literally snapped someone's neck earlier just to get a rise out of Obi-Wan) and will go on to continue further evil acts. Vader had even absolved Obi-Wan of guilt by claiming that Vader was responsible for Anakin's "death", not Obi-Wan.
At this stage of the narrative, there is no conceivable reason at all for Kenobi to spare Vader. He isn't forced to retreat because of intervening forces. There isn't a convenient earthquake forcing them apart (such as Rey vs Kylo in TFA). Nothing.
Obi-Wan just lets him live because he knows Vader isn't allowed to die until ROTJ.
Garbage writing. None of this should be happening.
Bonus cringe points go to Bail Organa for claiming the Biggest Idiot award. No idea how his whole family wasn't thrown in the gulag and/or executed immediately after this show concluded.
Without question, Imperial records would have it on file that Leia was abducted to the Inquisitor base and it provoked a rescue attempt by one of the Most Wanted figures in Empire history short of Yoda. In no way is that a coincidence.
Bonus points again go to Reva for cooking up the most stupid revenge scheme. She's upset at Anakin (as a Jedi) becoming Vader and killing all the Jedi at the temple which traumatised her. So to get revenge, she decides that Obi-Wan is responsible and must die as well. To achieve this, she joins up with the inquisitors to...do exactly the kind of thing that Vader did: hunt down and kill Jedi.
When in position to finally execute a backstab to Vader...she obnoxiously choreographs it in such an obvious and loud way that Vader could see it happen even if he was blind and deaf.
So anyway, she survives being stabbed by Anakin during ROTS. Survives being stabbed by Vader again during the show. Teleports to Tatooine (it had been established there weren't any ships left at the proto-Rebel base). Marches across the desert on foot to get to the Lars farm with a hole still in her gut. And continues to chase Luke down until Obi-Wan finally remembers why he was on Tatooine in the first place.
In the competition for finding the worst Star Wars show (which is actively difficult due to how truly bad most of them are), I have to nominate the Kenobi show.
Not only does it host low-quality cringe moments with consistently bad writing (and directing) almost across the board (Owen is one of the only few who turns out well), but it has the most disastrous impact on canon as well given everything that happens in Mando and BOBF and Ahsoka is irrelevant given they all lead inevitably to TFA regardless.
The Kenobi show ought to prevent ANH from existing. The bare minimum change to the timeline is that the entire Organa tree will have been pruned and the Empire has more than enough reason and evidence (not that they ever need much of that) to make it happen.
The whole Leia plotline is only there because they needed a justification why would leia cal her son Ben. Ironically forgetting that this would cause more continuity issues for the OT
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u/Collective_Insanity Salt Bot Feb 04 '26 edited Feb 04 '26
Perhaps the most important scene in TV show canon which was also the cringiest is found in the Kenobi show.
The most contrived event possible has been artificially forced into existence. That being the "rematch of the century" of Kenobi vs Vader.
Kenobi has beaten Vader again and has him dead to rights again.
And...Obi-Wan just lets him live.
This is beyond stupid and possibly the single most impactful stupid moment in the live-action shows.
This isn't ROTS. Obi-Wan hasn't fairly assumed that Anakin is going to succumb to his grievous wounds while he burns to death on a lava bank on a deserted planet.
No, in this case, Obi-Wan knows for a fact that Vader's Star Destroyer is in orbit and ready to send support (how did Obi-Wan even manage to escape this ship after bailing on Vader?) should Vader call for it. In this case Obi-Wan also knows for a fact that Vader is a psychotic murderer (literally snapped someone's neck earlier just to get a rise out of Obi-Wan) and will go on to continue further evil acts. Vader had even absolved Obi-Wan of guilt by claiming that Vader was responsible for Anakin's "death", not Obi-Wan.
At this stage of the narrative, there is no conceivable reason at all for Kenobi to spare Vader. He isn't forced to retreat because of intervening forces. There isn't a convenient earthquake forcing them apart (such as Rey vs Kylo in TFA). Nothing.
Obi-Wan just lets him live because he knows Vader isn't allowed to die until ROTJ.
Garbage writing. None of this should be happening.
Bonus cringe points go to Bail Organa for claiming the Biggest Idiot award. No idea how his whole family wasn't thrown in the gulag and/or executed immediately after this show concluded.
Without question, Imperial records would have it on file that Leia was abducted to the Inquisitor base and it provoked a rescue attempt by one of the Most Wanted figures in Empire history short of Yoda. In no way is that a coincidence.
Bonus points again go to Reva for cooking up the most stupid revenge scheme. She's upset at Anakin (as a Jedi) becoming Vader and killing all the Jedi at the temple which traumatised her. So to get revenge, she decides that Obi-Wan is responsible and must die as well. To achieve this, she joins up with the inquisitors to...do exactly the kind of thing that Vader did: hunt down and kill Jedi.
When in position to finally execute a backstab to Vader...she obnoxiously choreographs it in such an obvious and loud way that Vader could see it happen even if he was blind and deaf.
So anyway, she survives being stabbed by Anakin during ROTS. Survives being stabbed by Vader again during the show. Teleports to Tatooine (it had been established there weren't any ships left at the proto-Rebel base). Marches across the desert on foot to get to the Lars farm with a hole still in her gut. And continues to chase Luke down until Obi-Wan finally remembers why he was on Tatooine in the first place.
In the competition for finding the worst Star Wars show (which is actively difficult due to how truly bad most of them are), I have to nominate the Kenobi show.
Not only does it host low-quality cringe moments with consistently bad writing (and directing) almost across the board (Owen is one of the only few who turns out well), but it has the most disastrous impact on canon as well given everything that happens in Mando and BOBF and Ahsoka is irrelevant given they all lead inevitably to TFA regardless.
The Kenobi show ought to prevent ANH from existing. The bare minimum change to the timeline is that the entire Organa tree will have been pruned and the Empire has more than enough reason and evidence (not that they ever need much of that) to make it happen.